BENFICA goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin went from surviving a bloody war to becoming the hero that knocked Real Madrid down and stunned the entire world in the Champions League.
Trubin, 24, sealed the Lisbon giants’ place in Europe’s elite competition’s top 24, which leads to the knockouts, with a clinical header that condemned Real to a 4-2 loss on Wednesday in Da Luz.
Jose Mourinho‘s side needed that fourth goal against his former club to finish 24th and so the keeper moved up to Los Blancos’ box to help them score a critical set piece in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
The Ukraine international met a pinpoint cross from Fredrik Aursnes and fired a header past Thibaut Courtois – the man he has been compared to since the start of the decade – to become only the fifth keeper to score in the Champions League.
The shot-stopper’s heroics will always live in infamy as he also knocked Real off the top eight which leads straight into the Last 16.
Trubin has come a long way and probably wouldn’t imagine last night’s scenes back in 2014 when he was forced to abandon his home of Donetsk to move to Kiev at the age of 13 when he was part of Shakhtar Donetsk’s academy.
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That was after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea that led to paramilitaries – backed by Russian president Vladimir Putin – seizing territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region before an illegitimate referendum.
Trubin told Goal back in 2022: “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t like Donetsk to stay part of Ukraine. Donetsk is Ukraine, and it can only flourish as a Ukrainian city. It was a magnificent prosperous town, the city of roses.
“I just want this war to be over as soon as possible, so that things can be as they were.
“How could anyone support this aggression, when peaceful people are dying?
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“Such a situation helped me to grow mentally faster. Maybe that is the reason why my progress was quite fast.”
Trubin turned into a refugee in his own country once more in 2022 when he had to escape to Lutsk with his mother and sister following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine that sparked their ongoing war.
That left the Ukrainian absolutely heartbroken and of course took a major toll on his career while still playing with Shakhtar.
Trubin added: “We didn’t think it could really happen. Nobody expected Russia to be so barbaric and cruel. This really is a nightmare. I don’t understand how they are capable of it.
“They ruined so many beautiful towns and killed so many civilians. That is a catastrophe.
“Up until 2014, we just considered Russia to be a neighbour. There were no bad feelings between people in the two countries.
“It was unthinkable that war could start, first in Donetsk and then in all of Ukraine.
“But now, Russia doesn’t exist for me as a country anymore. I think it would take a very long time for the wounds to heal.”
Nevertheless, Trubin pulled through and still managed to amass a total of 94 appearances with Shakhtar.
That led to a move to Benfica in 2023 where he currently counts 132 appearances across all competitions.
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